Oct 16, 2009 9:42 pm US/Eastern
Miami City Manager Orders Return Of Fired Employee
Civilian Investigative Panel Livid Over Attack On Its "Independence"
Chairman Vows Court Battle
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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In January 2009, Miami's Civilian Investigative Panel fired Executive Director Shirley Richardson, saying she was overpaid and incompetent.Now the I-Team has learned the city manager has ordered her back to the panel she was fired from.
CBS News
In January, Miami's Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP) fired its executive director, Shirley Richardson. A unanimous CIP concluded Richardson was overpaid and incompetent. Now, city manager Peter Hernandez has ordered Richardson back to the agency that terminated her. It is the latest twist involving the career bureaucrat who has continued to draw big pay and benefits, even after being fired by the CIP.
After the panel terminated Richardson this year, the city manager moved her to his office - as an assistant to an assistant - and continued to dole out her full, original salary of $168,000 a year, an $800 a month car allowance, and a $200 dollar a month cell phone allowance. Hernandez said he felt sorry for Richardson and believed she deserved "some severance."
Hernandez rolled her back into a civil service position in June, at the reduced salary of about $86,000. At the same time Richardson entered the "drop" program, which allowed to her to continue drawing full pay as well as pension payments.
On Wednesday the city manager sent Richardson a letter directing that she report back the CIP - the agency that fired her - to work as an investigator for an annual salary of $85,843. The CIP's chairman, Thomas Rebull, is livid.
"This is rubbing salt in the wound," Rebull said of Hernandez's action. "The voters created us in 2001 because they had a concern about the independence of investigations of police abuse and misconduct." Rebull said for the city administration to try to tell the panel who to hire or fire "is not in keeping with the reasons the CIP was created."
City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff said the city manager's move was bad management. "It doesn't make sense," Sarnoff said. "You put her someplace else. You don't put her anywhere around a board that fired her for the incompetence that she showed."
The CIP - charged with probing allegations of police abuse and wrongdoing - has been decimated by budget cuts handed down from city hall this month. "It means that we will not be able to investigate as many complaints of police misconduct as we used to," Rebull said. Rebull said the board could hire two people with the salary Richardson will be getting if Hernandez's order is allowed to stand.
Rebull said the CIP will take the conflict with the city manager to court if it cannot be resolved "amicably."
The CIP's was created in the wake of a rash of questionable police shootings in the 1990s and 2000. It has since investigated hundreds of cases of alleged police abuse. It issued a scathing report after probing police actions during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit, in which police were accused of violating the civil rights of demonstrators. The CIP also condemned Police Chief John Timoney's acceptance of a free Lexus SUV from a Kendall dealership.
"We should never forget why the CIP was created," Rebull said Friday. "Its independence is important to the citizens of Miami."
City manager Hernandez did not respond to requests for comment from
CBS4 News. A message left at city hall for Shirley Richardson was not returned.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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